Choir
The Choir owes its existence to King Henry VI, who envisaged the daily singing of services in his magnificent chapel. This remains the Choir's raison d'être, and is an important part of the lives of its 16 choristers, who are educated on generous scholarships at King's College School, and the 14 choral scholars and two organ scholars, who study a variety of subjects in the College.
- About the Choir
- Join the Choir
- Director of Music
- Hear the choir
- Chapel services
- Choir Concerts and Tours
- Multimedia page (listen online)
- King's Voices – the College's mixed voice choir
- Collegium Regale – King's College Choral Scholars
Latest CDs from the Choir
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols 2008
EMI have released a live recording of the 2008 A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. This double CD, released 2 November 2009, brings you the quintessential sound of Christmas.
The recording includes both traditional and modern carols. Some of the traditional carols are well known (O Come, All Ye Faithful; God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; Hark! The Herald-Angels Sing), whilst others are less so (Angels from the Realms of Glory; Infant Holy, Infant Lowly; A Spotless Rose). Modern carols include Illuminare Jerusalem by Judith Weir (1985), What Sweeter Music by John Rutter (1987) and Mary, commissioned from Dominic Muldowney for the 2008 service.
The 2008 Festival marked the 80th anniversary of its first BBC broadcast in 1928 and the start of a year-long celebration of the 800th anniversary of Cambridge University.You can buy the CD from the The Shop at King's, King's Parade, Cambridge or online from the Friends of King's website. All proceeds go to support the King's College Chapel and choir.
England, My England tops the charts
There is no more quintessentially English sound than that of the Choir of King’s College, and the beauty of its unaccompanied voices can now be experienced through the new album, England my England, released by EMI Classics on 6 July 2009. The new album reached number one in the UK Classical Artist Album Chart in August 2009. It includes motets ancient and modern, well-known psalms and favourite hymns ('Jerusalem', 'Praise, my Soul, the King of Heaven'), and pieces made recogniseable through their association with key events in English history. You can watch a trailer on YouTube.
Handel's Messiah (CD and DVD)
Listen to two excerpts from Messiah
'Surely, He hath borne our griefs'
'Hallelujah' chorus
A live recording of King's College choir conducted by Stephen Cleobury, from a recording made in King's College Chapel during Easter 2009 and broadcast in cinemas around the world. The Choir is accompanied by the Academy of Ancient Music and Ailish Tynan (soprano), Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano), Allan Clayton (tenor) and Matthew Rose (bass).
Watch an excerpt from the DVD. Click on the player below (requires Flash player):
For more information see the Easter Festival page.
Christmas at King's
In December 2009 EMI released a new two-CD set of Christmas carols sung by the King's College Choir. The set is called Christmas at King's and contains 50 of the best and most-loved carols, including Oh come, all ye faithful, The Holly and the Ivy and Silent Night. It also contains lesser-known but beautiful carols from the medieval period to the present. The choir is conducted by Sir Philip Ledger, Sir David Willcocks and the current Director of Music Stephen Cleobury.
The CD also features a wealth of newly recorded material, including Ding Dong Merrily On High, In The Bleak Midwinter and See Amid The Winters Snow conducted by Stephen Cleobury, making this a truly unique collection. Click on the player to listen to See amid the winter's snow from the CD (requires Flash Player):
You can buy Christmas at King's from the online shop.
The Choir - Boys Don't Sing
The BBC TV programme The Choir - Boys Don't Sing included footage of the choir. Choirmaster Gareth Malone makes a choir at a boys' school to take to the Royal Albert Hall. The final stages of preparation include a masterclass at King's College. Copyright 2008 Twenty Twenty Television: used by King's College with explicit permission from the publisher.
Concert reviews
Lufthansa Festival Concert - King's College Choir
For a festival that boasts Rolls-Royce as its principal sponsor there could be no more appropriate opening act than the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. King's has always been the sleekest, most flawless of the Anglican collegiate choirs and under Stephen Cleobury they brought immaculate voicing and seamless phrasing to this programme of Spanish and English Renaissance music. Barry Millington, Evening Standard, 10 May 2007
Brahms German Requiem
Performance ***** Sound **** - Throughout, the choral component is superbly sung and beautifully balanced, Stephen Cleobury directing the King's College voices with an unerring sense of long line and the sustained building of paragraphs. There's no other recording of this version: if you want the Requiem with full orchestra, there are many competing accounts … but the present disc represents a modest triumph. Calum MacDonald, BBC Music Magazine, November 2006
Some have traced the 'special path' of German history, with its emphasis on national identity and love of home, through Brahms's German Requiem. There may be truth in the idea, but the distinctly English forces of King's College Choir, under Cleobury's searching guidance, turn in a deeply affecting reading of the score that touches on its universal humanity. The choice of Brahms's own two-piano arrangement of the orchestral version allows the men and boys of King's to project a powerful vision of mankind's lease on life, shared and enhanced by soloists Hanno Müller-Brachmann and Susan Gritton. Andrew Stewart, Classic FM magazine, December 2006
The Friends of King's College support the Chapel and the Choir. To find out more, or to make a donation, go to the Friends' website.
